Pages

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Alright, so I know its been a while since I have been able to update. Unfortunately my day job has had me busier and busier every day. So I am sad to say that I do not have any huge new ways to make money for you today. What I do have for you, is a general update on how things are going with my ventures.

Spartan Gaming:
So, this has been much more... lets go with frustrating... than I had originally anticipated. The problem with going into a retail business, is that distributors and manufacturers make it very difficult to find out what the wholesale pricing on their products are.

In the business I am in (that is, my day job) most manufacturers and distributors sell products to businesses at roughly a 50% discount. I had wrongly assumed that computer parts and electronics would be somewhere in the 25% discount range, when in reality a $12 stick of RAM costs me about $11.50 OR MORE.

About the only way I have found to be able to make a profit off of the cheaper parts, is to sell them on Amazon. This is because through Amazon's Seller account you can purchase postage at a discounted rate. So when you pay someone $5 for shipping through the USPS on Amazon, they get to keep about $2-3 (assuming it is a lightweight package that is, anything over 1lb. and I lose money on shipping).

The other way I have found to make a decent amount of money is to find used computers and laptops that are broken, figure out what is wrong with them, dismantle them and sell the parts. I am working on developing good strategies to find broken computers for free/cheap, but off of just my old laptop and my roommates I have made about $200 in parts. And I still have more to go through!

At the moment I only have 1 new product available on my website (My first order, there are currently 20 available) because I have limited funding to try and get this up and running. As I sell out of this and my used inventory, I will work my way up to higher end components. For the moment, if anyone needs to upgrade/add RAM to their laptop, take a look HERE.

MMOMursz:
This blog has been quite an adventure for me! When I first started out I had not idea what to expect, maybe just a couple people a day would read it. Maybe none at all.

However it seems like even with my sporadic and infrequent updates, people like my website and what it has to offer. To date I www.mmomursz.com has gotten more than 15,000 page views. There was an initial slump during the longest pause in my posting, but last month MMOmursz got 3000+ views!

Now views in itself do not account for much besides an ego boost, so I'll fill you in on how this has helped me financially (since that is what you all come here for). From straight ad revenue, I have made about $20 in just under a year. Purchasing this domain only cost $9.99 per year through GoDaddy (they are running a special right now, I'll cover that a little later), and the Blogger platform is free to use, so I am already in the green from ads alone.

Where I have made most of the money from this blog is actually through the referral codes for AppTrailers and Clover. I probably get $2-3 per week, sometimes more from this. It just goes to show that if you can provide content that other people cannot or will not that people will respond. In my case, I try my hardest to provide people with HONEST reviews on how to make money online.

I cannot stress how important that last part has been to the mild success I have had with this website. Go ahead and google AppTrailers. What you will find is tons and tons of spam telling you that if you add a certain referral code that you will get unlimited points (and thus money). These people are preying on the fact that people will try it on the off chance it works, and profiting off of lies. Here at MMOMursz, I am open and upfront about exactly how much I make and how much you make (at least at the time the article was written, AppTrailers changes their policies constantly...) so that we can both benefit from the system.

I'm rambling a bit, but the point I've been trying to get across is that if you have a topic you think you might be able to write about semi-consistently, make a website or blog. If you are willing to have a www.something.blogspot.com web address, then you can do this for free! It won't cost you a dime but you can still make the ad revenue, you can still post about whatever you want. There is no reason to not give it a shot in the dark.

If you want to have your own web address, then you can either buy one after the fact through Blogger, or you can buy one before you set everything up. If you go through Blogger, they automatically use GoDaddy. Now, GoDaddy offers discounts all the time on products which you won't see through Blogger, so I would suggest going ahead and purchasing through them directly. Now for the review of GoDaddy, as at this point I used them for this blog, and for everything I needed to set up my web-store.

GoDaddy:
Besides the whole SOPA fiasco a few months back, I cannot say enough great things about GoDaddy. I know absolutely nothing about html and building websites, but through their products I've been able to get two pretty snazzy looking sites up and running. And it could not have been easier, they sell everything you'll need from the domain, the SSL certificate (encryption required to take credit card payments directly on your website), merchant accounts through multiple banks, and different website building packages.

Anyways I've droned on enough, and am getting a little tired. So I'll leave you with a spam of ads which have some discounts on domains and other services if you decide you would like to make your own website. To keep in line with the up front and honest thing, I will make revenue from any purchases you make after clicking on these. If you become a GoDaddy customer, these banners will be available to you for use on your website as well.

Thursday, August 9, 2012

Alright, so with it looking like App Trailers is getting to a point where it is hard to exploit I am planning on moving my efforts into some different directions. There are two new ventures I will be going into:

Starting another Blog. I want to test out blogger's new built in affiliate system, so I will be reviewing products and using those ads, then reporting how its working out back here.

While I will continue to post ways to make money online that do not require start up costs, I am in the process of launching an online storefront for pc gaming related hardware, mice, and keyboards. At some point I may even sell custom built PC's as well. Again, I will be sure to report back here on start up costs, amount of work and effort it takes, and how successful it is. As this will be an actual business venture, I will not give detailed numbers on success. But I will be sure to give you a good idea.

Anyways, I plan to have my storefront up and running within a month or so. Starting inventory will more than likely consist of only RAM, mice, and keyboards. However this will expand over time.

Be sure to check in at Spartan Gaming if you are interested. Above is a sneak peak at the logo I am working on, the text font/size/color will most likely be changed when it is all said and done.

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Alright, for my newest trick to make money with App Trailers, you have to potential to make a LOT of money. However if you abuse this, the chances of your account getting banned are pretty high. I would only use this trick once or twice per day.

Unfortunately for me, I abused the automation and got my secondary account banned so I had to find a way around the ban so I could still use the automation. In doing this, I figured out how (if you have at least 2 iDevices) you can give unlimited referrals to yourself. Each referral is worth $1, so that adds up fast!

The way I have this set up is I have both an iPhone and an iPod touch. My iPhone has my main app trailers account, which is linked to my Paypal, on it. My iPod is jailbroken (click here for instructions - iOS 5.0.1) and I use it to automate viewing and to get the referral bonus on my main account.

Once you have jailbroken your iPod/iWhatever you will have a new app installed called Cydia. This is pretty much an "underground" app store. You will be looking to get an app called UDID Faker.

Open Cydia and click the manage tab at the bottom, then select sources. Click on Edit, then Add. This will prompt you to enter the URL of your new source, enter http://sinfuliphonerepo.com and confirm. Cydia will display a warning but just click add anyways.

Next search "UDID Faker" and install the only app under that name. The install button will be on the top right after you select the app.

Now let me explain what this does. Every iPod, iPhone, and iPad has a unique series of numbers and letters assigned to it, called the UDID. This is how apps are able to recognize when you have already used it before. By using UDID Faker, you will be able to trick App Trailers into thinking that you are a brand new user EVERY time you use it if you choose. Alternately, if your account gets banned because you were not careful enough using my exploits you can use this to get a new account set up!

Open up UDID Faker, and select App Trailers from the menu. Then just click the Random UDID button and exit the app by tapping the home button. When you open up App Trailers it will treat you as a brand new visitor! Go to enter bonus code and type in the code from your main account, or use mine if you're feeling nice - expectedroute

This is also a great way to get around getting banned by App Trailers. I hope to find other apps soon that will allow you to do this with referral systems.

EDIT: Unfortunately, I had typed this up a while ago and had not used this method for a bit. It would appear that this method is no longer working, but I would try it every once in a while just in case. I will try and find another way around it. Wish me luck!

Thursday, June 28, 2012

Alright, so I ended up taking quite an extended break from this blog after getting a new job. Now that things have settled down a bit I'm looking to get back started. So here's what I've got in mind for my next few posts!

App Trailers- So, after a few GREAT weeks running App Trailers on my iPhone (Using the automated system I posted about before) my account got banned, which I was sort of expecting. I assumed at the time I would be able to completely wipe my iPod and start with a new account. Unfortunately that is much more difficult than I imagined. Anyways, There are android emulators you can use to accomplish the same thing; and I will be posting about how to once I figure it out!

Affiliate Programs- The reason I haven't posted about these yet is because Amazon does not allow people in my state to sign up for theirs, and frankly Amazon Associates is the easiest program to use. I am going to look in to other options and how I could possibly get around my location, and post about this. Also, I just noticed it looks like Blogger has added something similar to this while I've been away! So I will 100% be looking into this.

Well, I had a third idea, but It's slipped my mind for the moment. Anyways I'm very impressed with the traffic the site has gotten even without me being active, and I'm excited to take this back up!

Thursday, February 2, 2012

Alright, so i just updated all my apps on my iPhone and noticed App Trailers was one of the apps that updated. One of the major reasons I have not used App Trailers to it's full potential is because of how buggy it has been. From the looks of it they have fixed the issues!

Now for the fun stuff. I'll start off by explaining the new features in App Trailers. The first interesting is a new ways to redeem/earn points.

It's pretty much a scratch off lottery ticket. You get one free one per day with a 1 in 6 chance to earn 50 points ($0.05 USD)

Or you can spend 10 points for the chance to earn 50 points.

Or spend 100 points for the chance to win 500 points.

Don't use this option except for your free daily play. The odds make it so you will lose more than you win in the long run, just like with any scratch off ticket you get from the gas station.

Kind of a cool add on for them to throw in there though.

The mildly aggravating part is that sometimes the videos will only be worth 2 points instead of 5, but most of the time it seems to stick with the 5 points.

Anyways here's the part that will actually help you earn some money. With a Jailbroken iPhone or iPod (sorry about the ad, article about how to jailbreak iDevices comes after when you skip it. I'm exploring monetizing links at the moment) you can set up your computer with an Auto Mouse Clicker to watch videos back to back to back without actually being there.

Personally I use my iPod for this (with an alternate PayPal account which I then send the funds to my real PayPal and then to my bank account) so that I don't have to worry about my phone being tied up while the program is running.

So, once your iPod/iPhone is jailbroken the first thing you will want to do is go to the new Cydia app store and search for a package called Veency.

That little box that says modify for me will say "install" or something to that effect. Just tap that, you'll see some scripts running, then it will ask you to "Restart Springboard". Just tap the button where it says that and it will be up and running.

Essentially what this does is allow you to access your iPhone/iPod from your computer.

Next you will need to install a VNC program on your computer (will allow your computer to access your iPod/iPhone through your wireless network). Personally I use TightVNC. Once you install TightVNC you will want to run the "TightVNC Viewer"

Type in your iPod's IP address in the blacked out portion

Your iPod's IP address can be found in the WiFi portion of the settings, just tap the blue arrow next to the name of the wireless network you are connected to to see it.

Once all that is taken care of just hit "connect" on TightVNC and it will bring up this screen on your iPod.

Once you tap Accept a screen will pop up on your computer that shows exactly what's on your iPod screen, and it will add a cursor to your iPod.

Next thing is to get the Auto Mouse Clicker set up.

This is how I've currently got my laptop setup running everything. The VNC viewer goes black during the ads
for whatever reason

1) The yellow box is roughly where the "Watch Video" and "OK" buttons on the App Trailers App pops up. We'll be setting up the mouse clicker to click there twice.

2) The green box shows how to use the auto mouse clicker to locate the spot on your screen (using pixels as coordinates) you want to be clicking on. Hit the locate button then click on your screen where you want it to be, and the x and y values will change to that location on the screen.

3) To open up the window with the red and blue boxes go to "Options" then "Configure Mouse Events". Click "Add Event" once to get the second row of boxes to show up. You'll want to enter the x and y values from step 2 in the boxes on the left hand side (same values for both rows), and then enter 15000 and 3000 in the boxes where I have (this sets one click to happen every 15 seconds and the next to happen 3 seconds after)

4) Now look down at the blue box, make sure you have "Loop Events" checked and the values for time set to 0. This sets it on an infinite loop.

Last, just hit start events in the configure menu, and watch it go! I've made about $0.30 while typing this up. And hypothetically you can earn between $0.002 to $0.005 for each video, or $0.004 to $0.01 per minute. That's between $5.76 and $14.40 per day for DOING NOTHING.

However, I have heard of people getting their accounts banned, so I wouldn't let this run for more than a few hours at a time just to be safe.

Sunday, January 29, 2012

So I've kinda been putting this one off for a while but it's time to write about Amazon's Mechanical Turk program, and how you can make money off of it. Essentially there are 2 types of people using Mechanical Turk, Workers and Requesters.

Requesters have some sort of tedious task (called HITs for Human Intelligence Tasks) that they need completed (copying business cards, taking surveys, evaluating products, making transcripts of audio recordings, or any other task that isn't really worth having an actual employee do) and are willing to pay between $0.01 and $2.00 usually to have someone do each task. After each task is completed it is then sent to the Requester to approve that it was completed correctly (instead of someone randomly typing stuff in to make free money), and then the worker receives the money after it is approved.

As a worker you will want to sort through these to find the "best" HITs, the ones that pay the most for the least amount of time/effort required and posted by the best Requesters. This is probably the trickiest part of using Mechanical Turk, and almost turned me off to the whole thing. However there are a few things you can do to make this easier.

This is Turkopticon

The first and easiest is download the Turkopticon extension for either chrome or firefox.

This extensions adds that little arrow by the name of the requester which when moused over it shows the ratings given by other turkers. If the ratings aren't good, then don't do the HIT.

Otherwise you may not get paid!

Once you've got that, the next thing you'll need is just a little bit of guidance. While you are still getting experience finding the best HITs Hits Worth Turking For is going to be your best friend. It's pretty much a blog where the owner takes the 3 to 5 best HIT's he finds that day, and posts them so that everyone can take advantage of them. The only downside is that EVERYONE that uses Mturk also uses that website. So within a few hours of him updating his blog all the HITs are gone.

Once you run out of Hitsworthturkingfor this is your best friend.

In the screenshot above you will see the search/filter bar built into Mechanical Turk. In my experience the best way to maximize your $/hour is to check the box saying "for which you are qualified" and to type $0.30 into the minimum payment option. This tends to be the pay range for tasks which only take 3-5 min but pay decently well.

Next you will want to look for this, and sort as you see here. In general the shortest time the Requester gives you the easier the task. However sometimes they will give you way more time than needed, which makes those HIT's slip through when you filter this way.

Just by using the Mturk system while you watch TV, or wait for time to leave for work, or while dinner is in the oven, well... pretty much anytime that you are looking to kill time throughout your day, you can make an easy $5 per day (or $150 per month!), which can be directly deposited to your bank account, or added to your Amazon shopping account.

Now, there are 2 things that tend to bother the workers that use Mturk.

The first is going to be that for some reason Amazon did not build in a way to see the money you are waiting to receive (before the requester approves your HIT). There is a wonderfully easy way to fix that. Just download this extension.

That will add this extra line under your "Account" tab. When you clock the link on the left it will refresh and show how much money you have in HITs that are awaiting approval

The other is that Amazon will not let you withdraw funds until you have completed a HIT on 10 different days (they do no have to be consecutive). And this limitation only applies for the first 10 days of turking, after that you get to withdraw your funds whenever you like.

So, my personal opinion of this is:

This is by far the most attention consuming method I've written about by far. The others take more time overall but you don't actually have to pay attention to them.

This pays MASSIVELY more per month than the rest of the methods I've covered, and has the best potential for being a long term secondary income option.

Overall I would have to say that this is going to be your best option provided you can get used to remembering to do it while you're bored instead of channel surfing for hours.

Friday, January 27, 2012

While I work on my next full article (will either be on Mturk or SB) here's something I just found out about. It's called Mega You Tube Views, and from what I have gathered it essentially offers a place for you to either pay to have your videos watched or to be payed to watch other people's videos.

This is the window the "viewing" is done in

I read everything there is to read on their website and tried a few quick searches to see if this is for YouTube videos (pretty sure it is) and their website dodged it completely and couldn't find a yes or no anywhere else. Anyways if this is for YouTube I have a feeling Google and YouTube will be very angry (as this is essentially stealing money from Adsense and strictly against their TOS.

If anyone can point me towards any info showing that this is indeed the case I will remove my posting and stop using the service, but if it turns out to be legit then I want to give my readers a head start on the rest of the internet. So here is how it works!

Alright so this is the first screen you'll get to after signing up and it's pretty simple. You click begin viewing and the player starts to play until you close the window. Personally I use chrome with flashblock and adblock so I can run it without hearing or seeing anything from it.

The blue box is where you get your referral link (you earn 10% of whatever your referrals earn FOREVER according to the about page. So that is a fantastic deal.

Finally lets get to the important part, the store (red box dummy)

When you first click the link there is going to be a whole bunch of shit about buying views/memberships for either your credits or USD. Personally I'm not going to bother, I'm on the site to make money not spend it. Anyways when you scroll alllllllllllllll the way to the bottom you will see this:

Now, In the time it has taken me to type this post up I have earned ~130 credits. Each video gets watched for 25-35 seconds and awards between .7 and 1.4ish credits. Let's say you average 1 credit per video and run it 24 hours a day. you will earn roughly 2900 credits in a day and you get about $0.80 for 2500 credits, so your 2900 credits is worth about $0.92.

If you let this thing run all day everyday, that means you will be about $30 a month for nothing. Sounds like a great deal for me, my computer is on all the time anyways. Also, this means if your referrals are online 24/7 as well you will get $3 a month from each referral.

Long story short, this seems too good to be true, and very well may be. But all the want is email and name so it is most likely worth the risk. And again, if anyone can confirm if this is legal/illegal I will be more than happy to take down the post. The link to the website up top is my referral link, if I've been helpful feel free to use it!